EPA Plans for Delta Draw Criticism

Southern California mayors, business leaders and water officials said Monday the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to restore the vital Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta favors fish over people.

John R. Wodraska, general manager of the vast Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said that at stake in any delta plan “is preserving our drinking water” for MWD’s 16 million customers from Ventura to the Mexican border.

“We care about the environment in Northern California,” Wodraska said, “and I think that represents a change from our historic, North-South battles.”

The EPA must tentatively decide by April 6 how to divvy up water from the delta, an environmentally delicate system of sloughs and islands that is a key link in the state’s water distribution system and a vital nursery for fish and wildlife.

The goal is to reduce the excessive salt levels in the delta by keeping enough fresh water there to restore the populations of spawning fish and wildlife to levels of two decades ago.

The new water quality standards call for listing the Sacramento split-tail on the endangered list. The EPA’s plan also declares that the winter-run chinook salmon on the Sacramento River have declined from threatened status to endangered.

But the traditional controversy centers on how much fresh water is needed to preserve the delta.

Thirsty Southern California has demanded its share of the water while Northern California environmentalists and other groups fear too much water is being diverted to Central Valley agriculture and the growing south, thus threatening the fragile delta.

The EPA has held hearings in San Francisco, Sacramento and Fresno, but in holding the final hearing in Irvine on Monday, the federal agency heard from representatives and leaders of the richest, most populous and water-needy areas of the state.

Gov. Pete Wilson has criticized the Clinton Administration for proposing protections of the delta area, but also directed state officials to collaborate with federal authorities on a final regulatory plan.

In Orange County, 1.7 million residents are served by the Municipal Water District of Orange County.

“Orange County imports more than half its water supply, and even without any further growth we’ll always have a need for a reliable source of water,” said Robert J. Huntley, president of the MWD of Orange County.

He said that federal regulations have eroded the reliability of future water supplies to the point where the next endangered species may be the “Orange County resident and business owner.”

Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly told EPA and U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials, “The export restrictions on delta water that you are proposing are tantamount to permanent water shortages to us in Southern California.”

Daly noted that Anaheim’s tourist industry, including Disneyland and enough hotels to provide $35 million in annual hotel bed tax, is ranked as the biggest on the West Coast.

The city is home to the California Angels, the Rams football team, and the Mighty Ducks hockey team--all of which provide revenue for the city and Orange County that could be jeopardized by severe water shortages, he maintained.

“We’ve already suffered economic disasters in the past year, such as firestorms, earthquakes and floods,” Daly said. “This will be another disaster.”

For 15 years, state officials have struggled with how to restore the delta, which stretches from San Francisco Bay nearly to Sacramento.

But the state refused to act and the federal government, facing a lawsuit by 16 environmental groups, stepped in last year to propose water quality standards that would change the allocation for growers, cities and wildlife.

To meet the proposed federal standards, the state would need to restore to the bay-delta estuary an average of 540,000-acre-feet of water per year, which is a significant portion of the amount used by Southern California cities, Central Valley farmers and some Bay Area residents.